WEST RICHLAND, Washington (April 6, 2025) – A pass with two laps remaining of Kasey Kleyn delivered the 2025 Apple Cup win to Zach Riehl.
Riehl had been knocking on the door of victory lane for some time but finally closed the deal in the Northwest’s oldest late model stock car race at Tri-City Raceway RMEC. The victory was good for a $10,000 payday for the 16 year old.
“I didn’t think this day would ever come. It is definitely a crazy experience,” Riehl said following victory in the 125 lap race on the TCR half mile tri oval.
Kleyn took the lead on lap 86, in a daring three wide move.
The two leaders embarked on a torrid battle that saw Riehl dipping to the inside of Kleyn on multiple occasions. On lap 123, Riehl finally got his break, when Kleyn slipped in turn 3, allowing Riehl to grab the top spot.
“I was taking my time and the opportunity opened up for me to take the lead through some hard racing, when the leaders washed up the track,” Kleyn said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hold onto the lead until the end of the race.”
Trace Thompson started deep in the field in 17th, but drove through the field, showing patience. He was able to wrestle the third spot away from Plybon with four laps to go, after an extended battle with the 2023 series champion.
“I think we took a little too long to get around the 55 (Plybon), but overall, it was a great day with a top three,” Thompson said.
Plybon ended up fourth with, Ryan Phipps (5th), Johvan Dillon (6th), Ken Bonney (7th), Wyatt Gardner (8th), Terry Halverson (9th) and Andrew Palmer made up the rest of the top 10.
Former 2005 and 2008 champ BJ Tidrick was 16th.
“At the beginning of the race, I knew that we were going to have to back it down and save some tires”, Riehl said. “It’s a long race with 125 laps and only four tires. We were just trying to cruise and pick our passes without spinning our tires. At the end we picked it up and it definitely worked out.”
This is the fourth Apple Cup staged at Tri City Raceway since its rebirth in 2022 at the track which had been closed since 2024. The Apple Cup originated at Yakima Speedway in 1967 but the track closed in 2022 and the race moved.
The next event for the Northwest Super Late Model Series is the “Leonard Evans Memorial 150” at the Wenatchee Valley Super Oval on April 26th. Jan Evans will be looking to defend his title from 2024 and score his second career victory in the series.